Albania Mission AgainstHuman Trafficking

MARY WARD LORETO is planting hope with a human rights approach to combating modern day slavery. This challenging mission is implemented through works of justice, education, grass roots action and systemic change. The aim is to eradicate poverty, the prime cause for human trafficking.

MWL Education Project: Towards a higher education standard in the Education System in Albania.

The MWL Education research work called: ‘Ethics in the Education System in Albania was published in April, 2017. The research is now being studied and used for discussion in all levels of the education system in Albania, starting from preschool up to the university level. All the three main actors in the education system: children, parents and teachers, are involved in this ongoing study throughout Albania.

The impact from the Education conference has been surprising and encouraging:

– Mrs. Shpresa Deliaj will present the findings of the MWL Education research, at EAPRIL 2017 in Häme University of Applied Sciences, Hämeenlinna, Finland as Roundtable at the end of November, 2017.

– On International Ethics day, the Department of Psychology and pedagogy of the faculty of social sciences, University of Tirana held a conference on challenges in education. MWL had the opportunity to share the data of the study report among researchers and actors in the field.

– Many Universities have requested copies of the research study as a tool for the students in research on education in Albania. All schools and universities involved in the research have requested copies for further study. This request is being followed up by the logistics team, step by step, all over the country where the research took place.

MWL Foundation staff and pedagogical staff from Rogationist’s School in Lezhe have begun to initiate the implementation of the Service Learning project. The steps have been agreed and students and staff are fully engaged in the process, with further training in ethics and group discernment, with the local community involved. The aim is to promote a new innovative pedagogical method in enabling students to be not only successful students into the future but also to prepare them as agents leading to social change.

Training of Rogationist Schools students on Service Learning Methodology.

Service Learning is a new methodology of learning which is not known and applied in Albania. Mary Ward Loreto is supporting the implementation of this approach in a northern high school of Albania. This is a methodology that can be applied at all levels of education starting from the kindergarten level to the university level. The piloting of this approach has started at high school level. Pupils in the Albanian education system are expected to perform practice hours in a number of subjects such as history, chemistry, biology, literature, but these are not implemented as projects designed to help the community, but as part of the official curriculum, with only a limited number of hours per semester offered.

The Service learning methodology aims to combine the school curricula with practical activities and projects and to apply in practice what they acquire from the theoretical point of view.

This methodology aims to support students, educators and communities to take a more active role and to contribute to a better society. The application of this methodology has started with 37 students from the Rogationist School in Lezhe.

Brief Report on Service Learning training week in Sarajevo.

The Service Learning Training Week in central and Eastern Europe, including the Conference and the TOT, took place from 2nd – 6th of October 2017 in Sarajevo. This was a wonderful opportunity to further improve our knowledge and to network with colleagues from the region. It was a great experience for moving more deeply into how to apply a real Service Learning project in a community context. The conference and training was led by experts of Service Learning from CLAYSS and MIOS from Tuzla. Service Learning is an innovative pedagogy that employs a holistic approach to encourage the development of relevant competencies. This is a response to both the educational challenges of the 21-st century and the needs of local communities. This conference, partners meeting and TOT, served to recognize and enhance comprehension of regional peculiarities and what brings us together.

Service Learning Conference in Buenos Aires, Argentina 22-26 August 2017.

The 20th International Service-Learning Conference took place on 22th- 26th August 2017, in the San Agustín Conference Hall of Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina.

The conference was organized by CLAYSS, with the support of the Organization of Ibero-American States (OEI) and the Ministry of Education of Argentina. It gathered teachers, heads and students from schools of all levels and modalities, as well as higher education Institutions and social organizations working with the Service Learning Approach in their work in education.

The Conference takes place within the framework of the International Service-Learning Week and it also included a Service-Learning Research Symposium, where researchers and practitioners of Service Learning share findings and evidence based recommendations for future steps in Service Learning.

The ClayssConference has been established as the most important event for experts and institutions that drive the service-learning pedagogical approach. During the event, 16 parallel workshops were organized, with participants from various experience and background in the development of service-learning practices and programs and with the participation of leading specialists from Argentina, Latin America, and other regions around the world.

For the second year, there were representatives from Central Europe (Matej Bel University in Banksa Bistrica) and for the first time in this conference, Eastern Europe was also invited to participate.

Representing Mary Ward Loreto Foundation and the new initiative on the Service Learning Project in Lezha, Ms. Edlira Gjoni participated actively in all sessions of this important event on the Service Learning Approach.

Ms. Gjoni participated in all actives during this week of solidarity, accountability, responsibility and new learning approach, which emphasizes the student’s learning outcome based on the service they offer to the community, making them better citizens, leaders and active in their initiative and civic engagement.